On May 23, 2025, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nakaseke South, Hon. Paulson Luttamaguzi Semakula, appeared on Radio 4 Ensunsuzi on a talk show hosted by Mr. Kungu Al-Mahdi Adam. On the show, MP Luttamaguzi criticised President Yoweri Museveni’s visit to Nakaseke district as part of his countrywide performance assessment tours of the groundbreaking Parish Development Model (PDM) initiative.
The MP was missing in action when the President visited his constituency. On Radio 4, he stated that he had received a letter from the Vice President, H.E Maj. (Rtd) Jesca Alupo requesting him to be part of the activities but that he had turned down the request with the “justification” that the whole thing was a mockery.
Luttamaguzi had in the same week crossed to the NUP party at a function where he alleged that during the PDM tour, President Museveni had used Shs2billion to inspect a farmer who had “just one pig” in Nakaseke.
Furthermore, he replicated the derogatory claim earlier made by the NUP party president, Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), that whoever still supports or votes National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidates is either very bad or very st*pid.
Not taking his assertions lying down, I had taken to my X account and challenged the MP to prove how that Shs2billion was spent on visiting the one PDM beneficiary. I also advised him to choose his political side freely without insulting other Ugandans when they also exercise their right to decide which side of the political divide they want to associate with. It was this challenge that he was responding to on radio but without proving anything.
It’s unfortunate that the NUP leaders specialise in vulgarising politics and promoting politics of hatred and extremism. Before NUP’s advent, was there a vacuum in Uganda? Wasn’t it NRM leading Government?
Were all those Ugandans supporting or voting NRM bad or st*pid? This level of intolerance in civil politics from the socalled advocates of change and human rights and democracy is a big disappointment and lesson to Ugandans. It proves that those fighting NRM are most likely wolves hiding in sheep’s skins.
On another hand, it partly answers why President Museveni still has much work to do. These new groups are so shot mentorship and ideas that to hand the country to them is like dropping Ugandans into a pan of boiling cooking oil.
NRM members and supporters should take this demeaning affront on their right to choose seriously, but graciously. No bad or st*pid group can lead a country for 39 years, have the majority in Parliament and in the Local Councils. The language of Kyagulanyi and Luttamaguzi shows how they would treat dissenters if they were in charge of government. NRM supporters would be harassed and persecuted simply for belonging to a fully recognised and legal political organisation.
Of course, this persecution has already been going on but it’s not acknowledged because human rights advocates have kept a blind eye to the opposition’s extremities while aiming to tarnish NRM is possibly as they can. This has given NUP and allies leeway to threaten the constitutional democratic setup of Uganda without being called to order.
When you fail to mobilise popular support, don’t resort to foul language against your opponents. It only makes you look clueless about issues that could move them to support you and how to win elections.
It was within the same week that opposition MPs stormed out of Parliament as the House voted on the UPDF Amendment Bill. Why not stay in and advance your views and objections on the Bill? Instead, they head to the Parliament corridors and media to quarrel or gossip with no effect on the law(s) being passed.
On the President’s PDM tour, by boycotting it, Luttamaguzi denied himself a chance to raise any concerns or issues with the President in person, choosing, rather, to go to the media to lament and malign. This is not courage but immaturity and a false claim to leadership. President Museveni has always set a good example that he is willing to meet, mix with, discuss and work with his opponents, even the armed ones. Why does Luttamaguzi feel that he is too “good or holy” to meet with those he doesn’t agree with, including the Head-Of-State? This is the same position held by Kyagulanyi. Why don’t they quit Ugandan then, since President Museveni leads the whole country? This is pretense and a message to the people of Nakaseke that their representative doesn’t reach the power centre to present their matters for attention.
I still demand for evidence from the MP on how the President used Shs2billion to visit one farmer. Is that the only activity he attended to on that day? Does the President use the State House budget as an individual or it’s spending by the entire institution, and accountability is duly presented for every coin spent? Isn’t it Parliament that passes that budget or should we say that opposition MPs only consent to budgets where they are direct beneficiaries?
I also noticed that the MP, like others in the opposition, have not grasped what PDM is about. Instead of coming closer to the President to learn and do their part, they sneer from a distance, thereby revealing more how they are less interested in uplifting their people from poverty than perpetuating political differences and rivalries. Leaders have failed to mobilise their people for transformation and when the President goes to the “root of the problem” they feel threatened because their mind is all about the next election and not what needs to be done to enable a farmer with one animal today to have a whole kraal next time.
We shall see and judge them by their fruits!
The author is the Special Presidential Assistant-Press & Mobilisation/Deputy Spokesperson
Email: faruk.kirunda@statehouse.go.ug
0776980486/0783990861
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